


worth the wear of winning

by Nochi



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Soul Mate AU, kind of, soul mates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-01
Updated: 2017-12-01
Packaged: 2019-02-09 07:51:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12883380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nochi/pseuds/Nochi
Summary: Because sometimes the universe won't acknowledge what you know in your heart to be true, and you have to take matters into your own hands.





	worth the wear of winning

“It’s not _fair_!” Pike slammed her tankard down on the table, startling everyone else there. They were having a going-away for Taryon, as he was to return to Wildemount while they continued on their quest. It wasn’t much, just them sitting together at a bar, mostly in contemplative silence despite a few attempts at a more lively atmosphere.

“What’s not fair, Pickle?” Vax asked, looking over at her with a slightly bewildered expression. 

“You and Keyleth have your marks,” she said, gesturing at the pair. “Vex and Percy have theirs. Even...you know.” She stuck her face back in her mug, muffling the end of the sentence. “But we all love each other!” Down the tankard went again. “And people keep leaving – “ Scanlan disappeared behind his own stein now - “and we need – we should have - “ She rested her chin on her fist, sighing heavily. “This matters too,” she muttered. 

“No one’s saying it doesn’t,” Vex said, laying an arm over Pike’s shoulders. “But that’s not how the marks work, darling, you know that.”

(The "marks” were bands around the right wrist, slightly darker than the surrounding skin, that formed when someone met their soul mate. Matching bands for each person, often used in place of wedding bands socially.)

“Then fuck ‘em,” Pike grumbled. “We can make our own fucking marks.” 

A look went around the table. 

“That’s not a terrible idea,” Percy mused. “I’m sure there’s an establishment somewhere in town.”

“It’d be a kind of souveneir,” Vax said to Tary, a little too brightly. 

“We can get them above our marks!” Vex said to Percy. “Or on the other wrist, for a kind of balance?”

It wasn’t quite what Pike had in mind when she’d started her drunken protest, but there it was. Percy sketched the design in his notebook, each of them calling out elements they wanted included, and they found a tattoo artist at far too late in the evening who only accepted all of them for a considerable gratuity. It was a hassle, and they itched like mad for a few weeks, but it was done. Indelible reminders of what they all shared. 

And later, when they were apart, or scared, or just lonely, they’d touch the ink on their wrist, and know that somewhere the others were doing the same.

**Author's Note:**

> This is very short because NaNoWriMo melted my brain, and kind of wibbly-wobbly on canon because timelines are hard. A friend and I actually had the idea ages ago, and I've been kicking it around since, but I was way overthinking it. I wanted the marks to appear naturally, weaving each of them together, but I didn't want it to supersede the romantic relationships, since the characters themselves hold them in equal importance. So: tattoos. Because sometimes the universe won't acknowledge what you know in your heart to be true, and you have to take matters into your own hands.


End file.
